Publication: Climate Change in MENA: Challenges and Opportunities for the World’s Most Water Stressed Region
Loading...
Files in English
2,270 downloads
Published
2018-03
ISSN
Date
2018-03-05
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is no stranger to extreme temperatures. It is predicted that these extremes will worsen in the coming decades. Compounded by changing precipitation patterns, water insecurity and projected sea level rise, the region is set to experience significant challenges to its development, particularly in agriculture, livelihoods and food security. Recognizing that climate change poses an acute threat to its mission, the World Bank Group has made strong commitments to tackle the climate challenge and to work with countries to meet their climate goals. With the adoption of a Climate Change Action Plan, the Bank has laid out concrete actions which is covered in this brief, for how it intends to scale up climate action, integrate climate change across its operations, and work more closely with others, through collective action and partnerships, to implement new and innovative solutions.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Sieghart, Lia Carol; Betre, Mahlette. 2018. Climate Change in MENA: Challenges and Opportunities for the World’s Most Water Stressed Region. MENA Knowledge and Learning Quick Notes;No. 164. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29419 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean(World Bank, 2010)Indigenous peoples across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) already perceive and experience negative effects of climate change and variability. Although the overall economic impact of climate change on gross domestic product (GDP) is significant, what is particularly problematic is that it falls disproportionately on the poor including indigenous peoples, who constitute about 6.5 percent of the population in the region and are among its poorest and most vulnerable (Hall and Patrinos 2006). This book examines the social implications of climate change and climatic variability for indigenous communities in LAC and the options for improving their resilience and adaptability to these phenomena. By social implications, the authors mean direct and indirect effects in the broad sense of the word social, including factors contributing to human well-being, health, livelihoods, human agency, social organization, and social justice. This book, much of which relies on new empirical research, addresses specifically the situation of indigenous communities because our research showed them to be among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A companion book (Verner 2010) provides information on the broader social dimensions of climate change in LAC and on policy options for addressing them. This book will help to place these impacts higher on the climate-change agenda and guide efforts to enhance indigenous peoples' rights and opportunities, whether by governments, indigenous peoples' organizations and their leaders, or non-state representatives.Publication Water and Climate Change(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06)Adaptation to climate impacts on groundwater resources in developed and developing countries has not received adequate attention. This reflects the often poorly understood impacts of climate change, the hidden nature of groundwater and the general neglect of groundwater management. Many developing countries are highly reliant on groundwater. Given expectations of reduced supply in many regions and growing demand, pressure on groundwater resources is set to escalate. This is a crucial problem and demands urgent action. This report addresses the impacts of climate change on groundwater and adaptation options. The Earth's climate is projected to become warmer and more variable. Increased global temperatures are projected to affect the hydrologic cycle, leading to changes in precipitation patterns and increases in the intensity and frequency of extreme events; reduced snow cover and widespread melting of ice; rising sea levels; and changes in soil moisture, runoff and groundwater recharge. Increased evaporation and the risk of flooding and drought could adversely affect security of water supply, particularly surface water. Due to these pressures, as well as global population growth, demand for groundwater is likely to increase.Publication Climate Change and Water Resources Planning, Development, and Management in Zimbabwe(Washington, DC, 2014-04-25)This Issues Paper, requested by the former Ministry of Water Resources Development and Management as a recommendation of the National Water Policy (NWP), will contribute to the National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) by examining opportunities for adaptation to climate change in the water resources sector, using both structural and non-structural measures. It uses models to provide preliminary estimates of the possible impacts of climate change in 2050 and 2080 on these water resources. A number of opportunities to adapt to these impacts are discussed. Many of these adaptation opportunities constitute no-regrets actions, in that they are actions that are worth undertaking in their own right, irrespective of the severity of impacts from climate change.Publication Social Dimensions of Climate Change : Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World(World Bank, 2010)Climate change is widely acknowledged as foremost among the formidable challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. It poses challenges to fundamental elements of our understanding of appropriate goals for social and economic policy, such as the connection of prosperity, growth, equity, and sustainable development. This volume seeks to establish an agenda for research and action built on an enhanced understanding of the relationship between climate change and the key social dimensions of vulnerability, social justice, and equity. The volume is organized as follows. This introductory chapter first sets the scene by framing climate change as an issue of social justice at multiple levels, and by highlighting equity and vulnerability as the central organizing themes of an agenda on the social dimensions of climate change. Chapter two leads off with a review of existing theories and frameworks for understanding vulnerability, drawing out implications for pro-poor climate policy. Understanding the multilayered causal structure of vulnerability then can assist in identifying entry points for pro-poor climate policy at multiple levels. Building on such analytical approaches, chapters three and four, respectively, consider the implications of climate change for armed conflict and for migration. Those chapters are followed by a discussion of two of the most important social cleavages that characterize distinct forms of vulnerability to climate change and climate action: gender (chapter five) and ethnicity or indigenous identity (chapter six), in the latter case, focusing on the role of indigenous knowledge in crafting climate response measures in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Chapter seven highlights the important mediating role of local institutions in achieving more equitable, pro-poor outcomes from efforts to support adaptation to climate change. Chapter eight examines the implications of climate change for agrarian societies living in dry-land areas of the developing world, and chapter nine does the same for those living in urban centers. Chapter ten considers the role of social policy instruments in supporting pro-poor adaptation to climate change; and it argues for a focus on 'no-regrets' options that integrate adaptation with existing development approaches, albeit with modifications to take better account of the ways in which climate variables interact with other drivers of vulnerability. Finally, chapter eleven turns to the implications of climate policy and action for forest areas and forest people.Publication Uzbekistan : Overview of Climate Change Activities(Washington, DC, 2013-10)This overview of climate change activities in Uzbekistan is part of a series of country notes for five Central Asian countries that summarize climate portfolio in a number of sectors, namely agriculture, forestry and natural resources, water, health, energy, and transport. The note further provides a brief overview of Uzbekistan's climate context in terms of observed impacts and historical trends as well as climate projections specific to sectors that are considered to be essential to the country's economic development. Finally, the note assesses national policy and institutional context related to climate change as well as suggests potential ways forward that could help Uzbekistan mainstream climate considerations into development activities and planning and create public demand for climate actions.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Services Unbound(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-09)Services are a new force for innovation, trade, and growth in East Asia and Pacific. The dramatic diffusion of digital technologies and partial policy reforms in services--from finance, communication, and transport to retail, health, and education--is transforming these economies. The result is higher productivity and changing jobs in the services sector, as well as in the manufacturing sectors that use these services. A region that has thrived through openness to trade and investment in manufacturing still maintains innovation-inhibiting barriers to entry and competition in key services sectors. 'Services Unbound: Digital Technologies and Policy Reform in East Asia and Pacific' makes the case for deeper domestic reforms and greater international cooperation to unleash a virtuous cycle of increased economic opportunity and enhanced human capacity that would power development in the region.Publication Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12)Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (SHWP) is a universal and widespread phenomenon that affects millions of women of all social strata worldwide. It is an endemic issue that has gained increased visibility and attention since the beginning of the “#MeToo” movement. In this Compendium on International and National Legal Frameworks on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (the “Compendium”), SHWP is understood as a gender-specific form of violence, commonly directed against women and occurring in employment or the workplace. It includes requests for sexual favors, unwelcome sexual advances or other sexual conduct, whether physical or verbal, which involves a “quid pro quo” aspect (e.g. request for sexual favors used to make employment decisions) and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, toxic, humiliating or offensive working environment. As one of the pervasive expressions of gender-based violence, it reflects discriminatory social norms, stereotypes, impunity and gender inequality. SHWP is viewed as a development challenge and has high economic and social costs. Despite its serious implications for women, employers and society at large, the behavior is widely accepted and minimized. The Compendium provides a survey of the key international and regional instruments as well as national legislation as they relate to SHWP.